Celtic on this Day – A day of notable European action for the Hoops

The Celtic Star

·28 September 2024

Celtic on this Day – A day of notable European action for the Hoops

Looking back at past games, today’s Celtic on this Day feature includes Jock Stein’s side kickstarting their run to Lisbon…

28 September 1966, Celtic 2-0 Zurich. The Hoops eased past the Swiss side in the first round tie in what would be Celtic’s most historic and successful season. Zurich were managed by Hungarian Lsazlo Kubala who played international football for three separate nations during his period as a player. Memorably, the opposition players deemed Celtic’s players too aggressive and over physical. Gemmell and McBride scored within quick succession of one another. Celtic would go onto win the return leg 3-0 and put aside Zurich with considerable comfort.

29 years ago, Celtic defeated Georgian minnows Dinamo Batumi 4-0 in the European Cup Winners Cup. Despite winning by four goals and 7-2 on aggregate, Celtic manager Tommy Burns was critical of the display in the second half, “we really let ourselves down in the second half. We were sloppy and seemed happy to be two or three goals up. I had to stress to the players after the game that this sort of thing must not happen again.” Andreas Thom scored a double, Simon Donnelly got the other and despite missing a penalty in the match, Andy Walker made up for it with a late strike into the bottom left hand corner.

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24 years ago today, Celtic were beaten 2-1 by HJK Helsinki in Finland. Despite losing on the night, Celtic progressed to the UEFA Cup 2nd round on away goals due to a 117th minute lunging finish from Chris Sutton. The pitch was in horrendous on the night because of a Tina Turner concert which had been played at the ground a couple of weeks before the game. However, Sutton navigated Celtic out of jail and sent the travelling support home relieved.

28 September 2002, Celtic 5-0 Kilmarnock. Celtic seen off Jim Jeffries’ Killie side in what was a comprehensive victory. The game was a depiction of the O’Neill era. Larsson scored a hat-trick and his strike partner Sutton grabbed a brace.

28 September 2016, Celtic drew 3-3 in a blockbuster game with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. City went into the game over-confident having had a perfect start to their season. It was Brendan Rodgers’ side only point picked up at home in that tough Champions League group. Moussa Dembele sent the electric Celtic Park atmosphere into ecstasy with a quickfire start. The English side recovered three times in the match to grab themselves a point in Glasgow’s East End. Tierney got the 2nd and a Demeble overhead kick just after the restart made it 3-2. The Hoops failed to hold on. Nonetheless, it was another game to add to the list of memorable European matches at Celtic Park.

Conor Spence

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